A DoubleTree in Portland, Oregon, has fired two of its employees after they racially targeted a black man who had been staying on the premises.
Jermaine Massey, who is 34 years old, posted a video of the initial incident to Instagram on December 22nd, 2018: the night it happened.
"Tonight I was racially profiled and discriminated against for taking a phone call in the lobby of my hotel room at the @doubletreepdx @doubletree," Massey explained. "The security guard 'Earl' decided that he would call the police on me, the exact reason is still unclear to me."
According to Massey, the security guard "said that I was a safety threat to the other guests and that I was trespassing and said that I was a disturbance because I took a personal phone call from my mom in a more remote area of the lobby."
And the situation only escalated from there.
"The manager who actually called the cops, 'Luis' actually asked me AFTER he called the cops, what happened?
"They already had in their minds that they didn’t want me there so I waited for the cops to show up and when they did, I explained my side of the story and they didn’t want to hear it. They asked me if I had personal items in my room (which of course I did) and asked me to go retrieve them. They told me that since the hotel requested me to leave, that if I didn’t I would be considered a trespasser and would be thrown in jail. I complied and cooperated and was not issued a refund for my room. I packed my stuff and went to another hotel."
"I cannot believe the level of professionalism that this hotel property had with me tonight," Massey said.
"It is never ok to discriminate against guests for the color of their skin and to prejudge them based on your own bias against that race. Earl is a disgrace, calls himself a man but calls the Portland Police Dept on a man who was minding his own business in the lobby of his hotel. I had my hotel key in my hand the entire conversation, he knew I was a guest. He wanted to prove a point and did it in the worst way. Not really shocked that this happened but just extremely disappointed. I will be seeking justice. Believe that."
Now, he has that justice.
The general manager of the Portland Doubletree, Paul Peralta, released a statemented this weekend saying that both the hotel manager and the security guard had been terminated from their positions following their treatment of Massey.
"Our hotel is a place of hospitality, and their actions were inconsistent with our standards and values," Peralta said. He also said that the hotel would be put under review in order to make sure that all their policies and practices were inclusive and welcoming towards any and all guests.
This incident of racial profiling was just one of many that took place in 2018, with other black people reporting that they had the police called on them for using a public pool, delivering newspapers, and having a barbecue in the park.
"Racism is alive and well," Massey said. Thankfully, on this occasion, at least, that racism was punished.
